I looked for the afvinterior site but its long closed. Some websites host pages from afvinteriors.

The Ferdinand had two petrol engines each driving a generator. These can be seen on the back of each motor. This takes up a lot of space. The electrical drive motors can be seen at the back of the fighting compartment. Trust me, these would get hot and there is ammunition stacked above them that would be 'hot-shots'. I always wondered why there was a toothed sprocket in the front. It is probably because the brakes are in the front. One could short the leads on the electrical motors for braking action but that would heat up those motors even more. One good thing about the two motor arrangement was that if one of the motors was running, it could assist in dragging itself away. These short-run production vehicles had largely used up most spares by the 27th July. Dragging them away from the battlefield was probably a major function in the field.

A major flaw is the size of the fighting compartment. Especially the front armor that the gun projects through. It does not need to be that wide and it is hardly sloped.

The description of the first action reads like a Meeting Engagement, so that's how I'll put this scenario together.

With the attack stopped near Ponyri Station and the Germans turning their attention to Ol'khovatka, we will have the Elephants trying to restart the offensive by simply moving a few kilometers to the west and attacking again.

This is in the area of the 70th Army. The Soviet armored unit in the area at that time was the 19th Tank Corps.

So, as the 4th Panzer Division attempts to create the breakthrough that failed at Ponyri Station the Elephants will once again be called upon to spearhead the northern thrust. Here the 4th Panzer Division has broken the initial Soviet defenses and the Elephants are moving into relatively open terrain.

To try to stop the 4th Panzer Division and now the Elephants the 19th Tank Corps lead by Major General I. D. Vasil'ev will counterattack with the 101st Tank Brigade. The 101st Tank Brigade is a veteran unit led by Colonel I.V. Kurdupov, who was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union for his part in the defense of Mtsensk in 1941, is confident that his unit can stop the German offensive.

Lt. Yerokhin will lead 2nd Company, 1st Battalion of the 101st Tank Brigade to engage the enemy. It will be his job to scout the way to the German advancing elements. The T-34's will have no problem dealing with the older, less capable German tanks. Little does he realize that he will soon be hunting Elephants.

Note: Normally I make only historically based scenarios. While this one seems to have proven to be mostly fictional in basis, from the information available in the text, some Ferdinands (mis-named as Elephants in the text) were undoubtedly knocked out by Soviet tanks. Once we started this project a scenario, either historical or fictional, was going to be created. The above description I've written is at best a semi-historical event. The 4th Panzer Division and 19th Tank Corps are historically correct as is the fighting around Ol'khovatka after the offensive was stopped near Ponyri Station. The insertion of the Elephants in this area and our hero's actions are wholly fictional.

Excellent website with pics of Ferdinand/Elephant. The pics show the motor-generator assembly being removed. Also, the traction motors are shown side by side installed in the AFV with the floor boards up. They are huge and each has about 450 KW of energy going through it. The back of the AFV would get awful hot and they would most likely want to keep that rear door open as much as possible.

The petrol-engine/generator/electrical-motor drive scheme takes up an awful lot of internal space in these vehicles. Since the lower side armor (behind the bogies and tracks) is only 60mm thick and mostly vertical, there is a good chance of mobility kills or better by targeting this area. It is not that big an area, like the the Tiger I (which also had 60mm lower side armor), but given a short range and opportunity, a penetration could be made by a T34.

This Soviet document seems to point out the internals of the Ferdinand. Note that the fuel tank is on the right hand side of the vehicle. I don't quite buy into the 'fuel-tank-blowing-up-without-penetration' claim. A full fuel tank would certainly not blow up without penetration. In fact, both diesel and gasoline fuel tanks are safer when full.

ORIGINAL: Yoozername I don't quite buy into the 'fuel-tank-blowing-up-without-penetration' claim. A full fuel tank would certainly not blow up without penetration. In fact, both diesel and gasoline fuel tanks are safer when full.

Also, looking in from the round hatch at the back there doesn't seem to be a view of of the side fuel tanks. Maybe some miscellaneous drums or can or some other object was taken as a fuel tank.

Yes, I saw that in some interior pics. The whole story should be investigated through the source that Forty used (if he had one).

Most AFV, such as the Tiger I and II have fuel tanks in the rear right up against the side armor. If what this guy says is true about bouncing AP off that armor blowing up the fuel tanks is true, the war would have ended very quickly.

BTW, what I thought was brakes in the front compartment may actually be track tensioners. It may be that teh brakes are in the rear also. Bet it was hot back there. They may have actually used the engine intake to suck air from the fighting compartment. Not a bad scheme. That roof ventilator seems WAY small and probably was just good for sucking out the 88 fumes.

I am very interested in the actual voltage/amps and control scheme used. If anyone knows a detailed book, I will buy it.

Thanks. The batteries are really for just starting the gasoline engines. It isn't like my highlander hybrid car with lightweight battery packs.

The main thing would be 'what voltage does the generator make at a certain RPM from the gas engines?'. Also what amps could it put out.

The electrical motors in the back could be either AC or DC rated. Of course, the generators are either AC or DC also. Basiically, the higher the voltage, the less the current and less copper is needed. I suspect that the voltage is low and that is why they are burning things out. Also, lower voltage means lower speed. But, on a positive note, I bet the vehicle had OK low end torque.

The scheme is very similar to a diesel-electric train. The scheme works better on larger platforms.

But each petrol motor was started by the batteries Mobius listed. In fact, the vehicle is a 12V system, and the batteries were put in parallel when running 12V, but when starting the batteries were switched in series and this gave 24V and the starter was evidently rated for this voltage.

But the petrol motors, once running just drove the Siemans generators. Each gas motor had a generator on its output shaft. These fed the electrical motors at the rear. Since the e-motors are rated at 230KW (308HP), they SHOULD have been able to handle the 265HP gas motor output (since the generator would have some losses). But an electric motor, any motor, hates heat and having them so close in the rear and running them in summer weather probably derated them.

The one thing I would want to know is the voltage rating of the motors. The 500 volt-amps rating on the generator can't be right. It's too low.

The afv did use the fighting compartment to filter air for the petrol engines intake. The actual filters are in the compartment. This would certainly cool the compartment down which is nice in the summer. But in the case of molotov cocktail attack, the fire/fumes/smoke would be drawn inside through any open hatch or other access point.

The commander had a back up means to communicate with the driver. He had a wheel and could give commands like a ship captain. The mechanical action would be relaid to the driver. But the radio guy depended on commo to interact with the commander.

The track tensioners are in the front and there are other means to stop the vehicle. This included some electrical means which means the electrical engines would get hot from stopping the vehicle. But have driven tracked vehicles, they tend to stop themselves unless on some steep hill.

The only explanation I can think of for having toothed wheels on the front is to have a built in spare for the back. I imagine a heavy afv could take a beating on this toothed wheel especially from using a drive that could produce strong torque.

The electric motors in the back must go through some 3 speed transmission device. Driving this thing could be fun even if slow.

I can't see why they used gasoline engines. They should have used diesel. The thing was a gas hog.

You are correct. I was looking at the interior pics. Oh that Dr. Porsche.

The afv could use short-tracking, in my opinion. That is where the track is not wrapped around all wheels. If that front 'idler' was damaged, then the track could just go around the roadwheels and drive wheel in the back. This enables a vehicle to get off the front lines.